The present invention relates to control of aircraft. Modern commercial/private aircraft, as well as older aircraft, include a myriad of instrumentation panels associated with electronic devices having controls, displays, and software applications, which are used to present information to pilots and/or copilots during flight. The electronic devices, controls, displays and applications are interfaced together to form avionics equipment within the aircraft. Pilots (where “pilot” includes copilots and any other controller of the aircraft) access one or more interface devices of the avionics equipment prior to and during the flight. Some of this information presented monitors the status of equipment on the aircraft, while other switches and knobs are used to control functions of the aircraft such as throttles (engine speed), switches (lights, radios, etc), levers (landing gear and flaps), and controls for navigation, for example.
Avionics are important because they enable the pilot to control the aircraft, monitor and control its systems, and navigate the aircraft. Avionics systems today are generally manual: the pilot must manually select the proper switch, knob, etc. to control a certain function in response to aircraft and environmental conditions. This action can be the result of normal activities, and is usually read from a checklist so as not to miss anything; or can be the result of a warning display, at which time the pilot must react accordingly. Pilot error, in the form of not knowing what to do or reacting improperly, leads to increased accident and death rates. Crashes can also result from pilots being distracted by an emergency and not maintaining control of the aircraft because they are busy troubleshooting or reacting to the problem. Such actions have the possibility to distract the pilot's awareness from the surrounding situation, or the state of the aircraft in flight.
General aviation accident statistics show that the accident rate for single pilot, non professionally flown aircraft is significantly greater than that for dual-pilot professionally flown aircraft. Accordingly, there is a need for methods and apparatuses that reduce pilot workload and increase the performance and efficiency of the pilot's control of the aircraft through automation. This ensures both a proper response to certain emergencies, and allows the pilot to focus on flying the aircraft.